I have been researching orders as part of discernment and one of the requirements is to be free from debt. It is unfair to enter such a community with personal debt that would then be a burden on not only you but the whole community.

I cannot be certain of the answer to your second question but I would assume mostly those things would be studied before entering the order.

[quote="sarahq, post:1, topic:262353"]
Hello everybody! Peace be upon all of you through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I have a question-- Are people allowed to become nuns if they have personal debt?

And another question-- Can nuns go to school? For example, to study art therapy? to study spirituality and counselling? or to become a chaplain?

Thank you everybody who read this post!

Take care and God bless,
Sarah

[/quote]

Greetings Sarahq,

They can only go to school with the permission of their superior or their order. It depends on the needs of the community or the Order. Also it depends on whether it is contemplative or active order and the apostolate of that order. You would have to ask the Order if one is interested.

Glad to have been of assistance to you. No, those aren’t chaplains according to the Catholic way of thinking of the word.

I shall pray for you and your vocation.

God Bless.
Anathama Sit

Actually there is an association of Catholic chaplains and many of them are sisters. My husband is a Catholic chaplain who is supervisor for a number of other Catholic chaplains. While I know that the Church says only priests can be “chaplains” the truth is that there are many deacons, religious men and women and laity who get their Master’s degrees in Theology, go through Clinical Pastoral Education and then must be approved by a board before they are certified as chaplains to work in hospitals, nursing homes, and prisons. These people do an amazing ministry. Usually the official priest chaplains are only available for confession and annointing while the unofficial chaplains do all the work of sitting with patients and their families and ease their pain and fear and help them to recognize their need for God.

Actually there is an association of Catholic chaplains and many of them are sisters. My husband is a Catholic chaplain who is supervisor for a number of other Catholic chaplains. While I know that the Church says only priests can be “chaplains” the truth is that there are many deacons, religious men and women and laity who get their Master’s degrees in Theology, go through Clinical Pastoral Education and then must be approved by a board before they are certified as chaplains to work in hospitals, nursing homes, and prisons. These people do an amazing ministry. Usually the official priest chaplains are only available for confession and annointing while the unofficial chaplains do all the work of sitting with patients and their families and ease their pain and fear and help them to recognize their need for God.

Greetings Joannm,

When I say Chaplain I mean in the fullest sense of the word, the definition given by the CIC.

However thanks for your post which did broaden my horizons as to “unofficial chaplains.”

Can women join an order to be a sister if they have debts? It depends on the order--some feel that they will benefit from the sister's education, and so a moderate amount of debt would not be a problem. But that's a choice they can make. However, the debt--and any arrangements to deal with it--must be revealed to the order.

It really depends on the order. For instance, as far as I understand the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist (Ann Arbor) Plan to have almost every nun get at least an undergarduate teaching degree since their charism is teaching the middle and upper classes. However it is rare for others, like contemplatives or Mother Theresa's Missionaries of Charity.

It really depends on the order. For instance, as far as I understand the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist (Ann Arbor) Plan to have almost every nun get at least an undergarduate teaching degree since their charism is teaching the middle and upper classes. However it is rare for others, like contemplatives or Mother Theresa’s Missionaries of Charity.

God bless.

Br Matthew, LC

Huh! Interesting! I guess I have lots more research to do.
I have another question but I’ll start a new post for that!

Hello everybody! Peace be upon all of you through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I have a question-- Are people allowed to become nuns if they have personal debt?

And another question-- Can nuns go to school? For example, to study art therapy? to study spirituality and counselling? or to become a chaplain?

Thank you everybody who read this post!

Take care and God bless,
Sarah

*Dear Sarah,
Peace! Although others have already answered this question … I wanted to add a bit if it helps…

To enter a religious order one must be debt free...( some orders might help with the debt but those are the exception)
As to schooling... it really depends on the order... some active orders require you to have your main schooling finished prior to entering,others require only some schooling then have you finish it after entering, while still others provide the schooling.
I would recommend you read up on orders that might be of interest to you...(if you are looking at active ones) for instance if you think nursing as a ministry is more attractive than say..social work or teaching then you might look at orders that have that particular ministry).... Contact a few and see what they suggest to those looking into their communities... Do you have directories of Orders in Canada??? We have 3 fine orgainizations (actually more) but 3 with great computer searches to help with the discernment process (orders in the States or international orders)... if the links would help feel free to pm me and I will list them for you. (Or perhaps you have a director of vocations for you diocese who might help?)
Blessings on your search

(P.S. In California we do have Catholic Chaplains for the prisons who are women… they cannot offer Mass or hear confessions however they do provide the other services that a priest chaplain does. As others have noted they must be trained for the work.)